The present invention relates to a radio-operated communications terminal with a navigation key arranged on its key surface.
Radio-operated communications terminals, particularly of mobile parts of cordless telephones or hand-held portables, are becoming dimensionally smaller due to customer demand. This results in greater difficulties in accommodating the necessary number of keys on these devices. In addition, with the connection of Internet-capable mobile parts, it is necessary to incorporate known navigation keys for what are known as Internet browsers into the keyboard of this device. The keys enable movement of a cursor in a graphic display. Due to the functions performed by such navigation keys, they are relatively large, since a navigation in up to eight directions, as well as an actuation by pressing, can be performed with these keys.
The utilization of sensors for recognizing biometric data such as fingerprints in handheld communication devices is also known. German reference DE 93 04 488 U1 discloses such an arrangement. In this known arrangement, the biometric scanning system consists of a window arranged in a handheld apparatus, an optic, an image capture sensor, and at least one light source illuminating the window. The image capture sensor is connected to a cryptochip.
In commercial mobile telephones, however, the accommodation of a sensor which transmits fingerprints is associated with difficulties, due to the size of the devices. On the back of the device, use is perceived as uncomfortable, while, given an accommodation on a narrow side, one group of people is advantaged or disadvantaged, respectively, according to whether they hold the device in the left hand or the right hand when telephoning. The accommodation of the sensor on the surface of the device which has the keyboard is hardly possible for reasons of space, due to the display and the keyboard, since a sensor requires an area of approximately 100 to 200 mm.sup.2.